Pingala --Inventor of Binary System and

its mathematics
Srinivasan Nenmeli Ph D

Introduction
Pingala was an Indian mathematician who wrote the book
" Chandah Sastra" [aka "chandah-sutra"] . This work is
concerned with the metering of Vedic chants, as
different from Sanskrit verse metering. Metering or
'chandas' is the timing for pronouncing syllables.
Pingala used short syllables and long syllables as two
entities and employed various permutation and combin
ation of these syllables. During this process ,he
developed the "binary system" ,similar to Boolean
algebra.
He used short syllable like '0' and long syllable like
'1' in modern mathematics and computer systems. Note


that he did not use zero as such ,since it was not yet
introduced in the number system in his time. By this
notation, he developed "Pascal Triangle" , called by
Halayudha " meru- prasthara" [ " the stair case of
Mount Meru"]. Pingala is also credited with
development of "binomial theorem" for power 2. He also
developed methods to calculate powers of 2 and what we
call now " recursive algorithm".[Note that the sum of
numbers in nth row in Pascal triangle gives the value
of 2 to the power of n.] It is also likely that Pingala
and other mathematicians of his time had known powers
of 11, since the numbers in a row are powers of 11,
i.e., 121, 1331,14641..and so on.] Bhaskara I called
Pascal triangle "Khanda Meru" and made the triangular
arrangement , as we know today.
Pingala can be called "the Father of Binary System".
Thus Indian mathematics had given not only the concept
of zero and decimal system, but Boolean algebra ,many
centuries before. Their work also predates the work on


probability theory, using Bernoulli trials , Pascal
triangle and related topics.

His historical period
Very little is known about the biography of Pingala.
His life period is taken as anytime between 3rd century
BC to 2nd century AD.!
Some state that he was a brother of Panini, the
Sanskrit grammarian and he was also a brother of
Patanjali of Maha Bhasya. This may be a literary way
of telling that he belonged to the tradition of such
great scholars and thinkers! [In the same way, one can
call Leo Tolstoy brother of Mahatma Gandhi.]
Pingala's work would form part of :" Vedic
mathematics", implying that the roots were in 'Vedic
period'; while this period could be as ancient as 2000
BC, we can take it to include all work from around 300
BC for which some historical references could be found.
This period also includes the flourishing influence of


Buddhism and Jainism, which were prominent religions at
that time, not strictly Vedic or Hindu religious
literature. Buddhist and Jain mathematicians/
astronomers and scholars were active in developing such
mathematics as part of religious philosophy,literature
and arts. The religious harmony at that time enabled
Buddhist or Jain monks to interpret or write
commentaries on Hindu scriptural texts as well.
His work "Chandahsastra" is not available as such. The
commentary given by Halayuda, a mathematician of 10th
century is the main source. Varahamihira, an Indian
astrologer of 6th century gave the additive formula for
n
C
r
. Mahavira of 9th Century gave the formula we use
to day:
n!/ [r!(n-r)!.
Kedar Bhatt of 8th century developed recursive
algorithms based on Pingala's work.





Pingala and Fibonacci sequence
Pingala had developed the Fibo sequence :
0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13......, obtained by adding the two
previous numbers ,starting with 0 and 1. Fibo sequence
was called by Halayuda "matra-meru". It appears that
Pingala knew several other sequences and therefore Fibo
sequence was only one such sequence for him.
We do not know whether he explored the concept of
golden ratio from Fibonacci numbers; 'Golden ratio' or
'phi' is the limit of F
n
/ F
n-1
where this is the ratio
of two consecutive Fibo numbers. Golden ratio is an
irrational number and becomes phi = 1.618039......
[Fibonacci sequence is also called Gopala-Hemachandra
numbers;Gopala[1135] and Hemachandra [1150] , a Jain
scholar, wrote about Fibo sequence after studying
musical notes. Note that Fibonacci wrote 'Liber Abaci"
in 1202, including this sequence, just 50 years later
than Hemachandra. Fibonacci based his analysis on an
artificial breeding pattern of rabbits.!


[ An interesting side note: The South Sea islanders of
Manga-reva in French Polynesia use both binary and
decimal systems in normal transactions!]

Pingala and Combinatorics
The present mathematical subject of combinatorics
[permutations,combinations and their derivations] was
developed in its basic form by Pingala and used as such
in many fields. Down the ages, Indian
mathematicians,scientists,artists and craftsmen applied
combinatorics in various fields like literature, music
, architecture , astronomy, astrology and medicine. In
modern times we use probability concepts in various
fields. In the same way, they applied combinatorics for
creating several patterns or designs or motifs with
basic elements in each field. Thus one can produce
various ragas or musical tunes using the seven basic
notes and combinatorial theory. [ The 'melakartha'
scheme of 72 ragas employ the combinatoric formula


though this development could be more recent
achievement and does not belong to Pingala's time.] For
instance, Sushruta, an Indian surgeon of 6th Century
and author of 'Sushruta Samhita', showed that 63
combinations of tastes are possible starting with 6
basic tastes![2
6
-1 possibilites.] Some explored the
use of five senses in various permutations. Others
explored the various combinations of philosophical
doctrines!

Relationship to Algebra
Pascal's triangle and binomial theorem are part of
algebra now and Isaac Newton [1643-1727] is credited
with the enunciation of Binomial theorem in its
present form, as you find in math texts. But the basic
concepts and notions of this subject began with the
work of Pingala.
Persian mathematicians ,including Omar Khayyam
[1044-1123], did work on Pascal's triangle in 12th


century. Chinese references of Yang Hui's work belongs
to 13th century. Pascal's extensive work, in relation
to Probability theory was in early 18th
century.[Blaise Pascal 1623-1662]. Thus we find that
the basic notions and use of combinatorics arose from
the work of Pingala sometime in 3rd century BC to 2nd
century AD. This is also the period when Vedic religion
and Buddhism and Jainism were well established in
India.
It is imperative that the early contributions of
Indian mathematicians are properly represented ,not
only in books of history of mathematics, but even in
math text books which are heavily slanted towards
western contributors from 17th century onward. This
would reflect the rich cultural activities and
creativity of those societies which were not mired in
'dark ages' and were not bereft of intellectual
traditions.
--------------XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-----------------------





References
1 Papers by Dr Amba Kulkarni ,Univ of Hyderabad,
Hyderabad, 500032 India.
2 G G Joseph " Crest of the peacock" --Princeton Univ
Press.[3rd edition ,2010]
3 Kim Plofker "Mathematics in India", Princeton Univ
Press, 2009.
---------------------xxxxxxx--------------------------